1997.03.28: March 28, 1997: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Safety: Obituaries: Fallen: Dayton Daily News: The family of 48-year-old Elizabeth Livingston whose body was found under a ledge after she went hiking alone in Costa Rica in 1997, believes her death was an accident, just as the Peace Corps told them

The family of 48-year-old Elizabeth Livingston whose body was found under a ledge after she went hiking alone in Costa Rica in 1997, believes her death was an accident, just as the Peace Corps told them

The Peace Corps says in a written response: "There was nothing in the file that would suggest anything other than an accidental fall." Local newspapers noted that the area where she went hiking was known as the "Triangle of Death" because seven females — one of them a 5-year-old child — were murdered 11 years earlier. Police kept open the possibility that Livingston, too, was murdered. "We could never be 100 percent (sure) because of the faraway possibility that somebody pushed her is still there," said Adrian Coto, one of the national police investigators assigned to the case. "The mountains and the woods were the only witness we knew of."

By Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood rcarollo@DaytonDailyNews.com and mhopgood@coxnews.com

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala | The body of 26-year-old Peace Corps volunteer Joseph Teates was found hanging from ropes attached to his neck and feet in June 1987.

His death was called an accident.

The body of 27-year-old volunteer Brian Krow was found in Ukraine under a footbridge with chest-high railings along both sides.

His death, too, was called an accident.

Wyatt Pillsbury died of an overdose of drugs and alcohol in Tanzania in 2001, but the Peace Corps' public Web site says he died of "asphyxiation due to the aspiration of undigested food which was lodged in his throat."

A 20-month Dayton Daily News examination found that the United States government failed to reveal the full truth about the deaths of at least 10 Peace Corps volunteers who died over a 30-year period.

"I personally never believed them when they said it was an accidental death," said Ronda Thorne, who learned through records obtained by the Daily News that her brother, 25-year-old Jerry Dean Bryan of Spokane, Wash., had a history of alcohol and drug abuse before he died of a barbiturate overdose in Brazil in 1978.

Records from the State Department detailing the events prior to Bryan’s death said, "Should not reveal full story."

Using never-before-released records from the Peace Corps’ Deaths in Service computer database, the Daily News re-examined deaths in the Peace Corps since 1962. The newspaper also obtained new information in foreign countries and through a federal lawsuit the newspaper filed against the Peace Corps, which originally refused to release the records.

In 10 cases, the examination found that the agency misled or failed to provide essential details to the families, to the public or to other volunteers about the circumstances of how volunteers died. In at least six other cases, the Daily News found that circumstances other than those suggested by the Peace Corps were possible and that the deaths remain mysteries.

Other deaths, too, warranted further examination. But Peace Corps deaths have occurred in more than 60 countries, most with primitive record-keeping systems, and many happened more than 20 years ago, making it impossible to verify the information provided by the Peace Corps in every case.

Several families said they learned critical details about the deaths of their loved ones after being contacted by the Dayton Daily News.

Other families suspected the agency wasn't telling them the truth, but they have little means to investigate cases in foreign countries.

"I always felt like I got the runaround from them, like they were protecting themselves," said Stacy Krow, who believes her brother, Brian, either committed suicide or was killed in Ukraine in 1999.

In a written response, the Peace Corps says it relies on the causes of death as officially determined by local authorities, who are responsible for making such determinations.

"The Peace Corps is not the official investigating authority in any death of a volunteer," the response says. "Local authorities in country are in charge and report any official causes, details or other facts they believe to be true."

[Excerpt]

The family of 48-year-old Elizabeth Livingston of Taos, N.M., whose body was found under a ledge after she went hiking alone in Costa Rica in 1997, believes her death was an accident, just as the Peace Corps told them. But even the police can't be positive. Her body wasn't found until more than a week after she disappeared in a remote area, and it might never have been found had her ex-husband not gone to Costa Rica from New Mexico and reinvigorated the search.

The Peace Corps says in a written response: "There was nothing in the file that would suggest anything other than an accidental fall."

Local newspapers noted that the area where she went hiking was known as the "Triangle of Death" because seven females — one of them a 5-year-old child — were murdered 11 years earlier. Police kept open the possibility that Livingston, too, was murdered.

"We could never be 100 percent (sure) because of the faraway possibility that somebody pushed her is still there," said Adrian Coto, one of the national police investigators assigned to the case. "The mountains and the woods were the only witness we knew of."

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He served with honorOne year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

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Story Source: Dayton Daily News

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Costa Rica; Safety; Obituaries; Fallen

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